Following is a synopsis of the assessment process and the role. We very much appreciate your consideration and if you know of colleagues within your networks that would be keen to participate, please feel free to forward this email and my contact details.

BACKGROUND

The Alcan Prize for Sustainability is one of the world’s most significant, privately funded awards for not-for-profit, civil society and non-governmental organisations. The Alcan Prize for Sustainability is valued at US$1 million annually and will be offered to any not-for-profit, civil society or non-governmental organization demonstrating a comprehensive approach to addressing, achieving and further advancing sustainable development. More information about the Prize can be found here

ASSESSORS

Assessors will score entries from different geographical areas and not their home market. IBLF has run several assessment panels during May 2005 based in a number of international markets (India, Hungary and Canada).

The guiding principle of the assessment process will be to score entries on how best the organization demonstrates a comprehensive approach to addressing, achieving and further advancing sustainable development.

Entries will be assessed by individuals who together will have a combination of expertise and experience, namely:

have expertise within the field of sustainability/sustainable development
have expertise of the not-for-profit sector

Participating assessors will:

• be free of organisational affiliations that will create conflict of interest issues with the Prize entrants
• be competent in the English language
• be of middle – senior management to gain the most value from the opportunity
• be welcome from all sectors of industry (ie. corporate, NGOs, academia, government etc)

The assessment panel consists of individuals who donate their time ‘in-kind’ to the process, either as a development, profile or networking opportunity and will gain value and benefit from involvement in the process.

This is a key role and any expenses (approved in advance) will be covered. In addition, all assessors will be profiled on the Alcan Prize for Sustainability website together with a link to their organisation. Food and refreshments will be provided.

Please do feel free to come back to me with any further questions you may have. Thank you so much for your time and interest.

Best regards

Leesa Muirhead
Manager, Alcan Prize for Sustainability

All EABIS members are warmly invited to participate in the inaugural meeting of "The Business in Society Learning Project – Creating Mainstream Curriculum Development and Teaching Materials", the EABIS corporate funded project led by London Business School.

The Focus of the Day

If you would like to:

• take part in crafting the direction of this three year project;
• develop further understanding of the case for mainstreaming corporate responsibility in business and learning;
• look at some of the best corporate responsibility cases, including their mainstream application;
• share case writing and case teaching strategies and tactics;
• learn about how to submit a proposal for case writing funding from the project;

this meeting will be of great interest to you.

The Project
The three-year project will emphasise the development of materials that can be used to mainstream corporate responsibility in to all management disciplines as well as core ethics and corporate responsibility courses. The focus for year one will be on effective case writing and case teaching, including a review of existing cases and the funding of at least five new cases by March 2006. A call for tender for the new case writing will be issued after the meeting.

Who Should Attend?

• All EABIS members interested in crafting the future focus of the project and obtaining greater insights about it;
• Corporate and academic EABIS members involved in curriculum design on business in society issues;
• Representatives of EABIS member organisations involved (or potentially involved) in corporate responsibility case teaching and case writing, especially those interested in case teaching as a pedagogical method.

How Do I Register?
There will be no charge for attendance by EABIS members. To pre-register and for more information contact Jayne Magenis at jmagenis@london.edu

Further event details, the programme and a registration form are available on the Curriculum Project sub-community (join Projects community, then join Curriculum Development sub-community).

Numbers for this meeting are limited so please respond as soon as possible, but no later than 10 June 2005, if you want to be assured of a place.

EABIS, Ashridge and the Guardian newspaper are running a competition to find the best European MBA essay on the changing role of business in society.

The MBA student who provides the best essay as judged by a distinguished panel will be awarded €6000 and a runner-up will be awarded €2000.

The award exists to further debate about the role of business in society and to do so in a way accessible to a wide audience, particularly to business leaders and public policy-makers. It also aims to raise awareness about the relevance of these issues to mainstream management education.

The award is open to full- and part-time students studying on an MBA programme at a European business school during the 2004/2005 academic year. The award is part of EABIS ongoing support of excellence in the area of corporate responsibility education.

For further information on the competition and to read the winning essays of previous years click here.

The MBA student who provides the best essay as judged by a distinguished panel will be awarded €6000 and a runner-up will be awarded €2000.

The award exists to further debate about the role of business in society and to do so in a way accessible to a wide audience, particularly to business leaders and public policy-makers. It also aims to raise awareness about the relevance of these issues to mainstream management education.

The award is open to full- and part-time students studying on an MBA programme at a European business school during the 2004/2005 academic year. The award is part of EABIS ongoing support of excellence in the area of corporate responsibility education.

For further information on the competition and to read the winning essays of previous years go to the official web site of the Award

Issued by: European Commission, DG Enterprise

Deadline: 29/07/2005

Scheduled start-up date for the action: October/November 2005

Duration of the contract or time limit for completion: 24 months.

Estimated contract value: Maximum 75% of the eligible costs, with a maximum EC contribution of € 300.000 (total budget being € 950.000)

Address from which all documentation may be obtained: Online

EABIS' view: EABIS Central Team will not respond to the call focusing on the education pillar activities (management education with regards to CSR & SMEs). If this call is of interest to you, take a further look to the documentation and feel free to get in contact with Bart Neerscholten (bart.neerscholten@eabis.org). If there is an interest by several members to hand in a collective proposal, EABIS can provide opportunities to put different members in contact with each other and create the necessary infrastructures for further debate and collaboration (e.g. set-up a Forum on the Intranet)

Description:
The objective is to support stakeholders (including business/management schools, other educational establishments, and research institutions with a focus on SMEs as well as CSR intermediary organisations), in the implementation of the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum recommendations in order to promote the take-up of effective and credible CSR practices among European companies and in particular SMEs, as a means to enhance their long-term competitiveness.

The following initiatives (of most relevance to EABIS members) are eligible:

• mainstreaming CSR and related topics into traditional courses, in the curricula of future managers and graduate students, in executive education, and in other educational institutions, including schools;
• developing better baseline data on SMEs and CSR – by business sector, type, geography etc. – including research on the business case for SMEs and supply-chain issues;
• developing the capacity of SME intermediary organisations to make CSR part of the core activities and services which they develop for SMEs, e.g. through developing and implementing specific training modules for small business advisors.

To be eligible, project applicants: May act individually or in consortium with partner organisations.

Award criteria:

• Relevance /20
• Visibility /10
• Impact /30
• Quality /20
• Budget and Cost-effectiveness /20

Corporate scandals and the growing interest in corporate social responsibility have changed all that. Over the past few years, most leading business schools have introduced classes in business ethics to their required curricula.

But the issue of whether ethics can or should retain a place in an MBA's education remains unresolved and continues to rear up and bite business schools just when they least expect it.

To read the full article go here.

• after 15/05/05 if deadline 15/03/05
• after 01/11/05 but before 22/12/05 if deadline 01/09/2005

• The available appropriations may be exhausted before the end of the budget year and it is therefore in the applicant's interest to submit a proposal as early as possible.
• Proposals which indicate an earlier starting date than the ones indicated above will not be considered by the Evaluation Committee.
• The budget heading allows support to be given to projects to which the applicants contribute at least 20 % of the total cost of the operation. Contributions in kind will not be taken into account. Any application which requests a grant of more than 80 % will be excluded automatically from the selection.

Estimated contract value: average around 150 000 EUR (for calls in 2004).

Address from which all documentation may be obtained: Online

Assessment: If this call is of interest to you, take a further look to the documentation online and feel free to get in contact with Bart Neerscholten (bart.neerscholten@eabis.org), EABIS' Research Manager. Members are encouraged to build consortia under the EABIS umbrella with e.g. an academic member taking the lead with the support of EABIS. If there is an interest by several members to hand in a collective proposal, EABIS can provide opportunities to put different members in contact with each other and create the necessary infrastructures for further debate and collaboration.

Description/object of the call for proposals on the sub-programme CSR:
The objective of this sub-programme is to promote corporate social responsibility, including socially responsible production, consumption and investment. Projects with the aim of promoting innovation, transparency and convergence of CSR practices and instruments are eligible for support.

The following initiatives are eligible:

• initiatives aiming to promote convergence (effectiveness) and transparency (credibility) or CSR practices and tools, such as codes of conduct, social labels and audits, social accounting, reporting and assurance, and socially responsible investment, in particular through the development of common approaches, tools, terminology and methodologies, bringing together existing instruments and initiatives;
• initiatives aiming to improve knowledge about CSR and to facilitate the exchange of experience and good practice, in particular through networking and co-ordination of such initiatives, the development of Total Responsibility Management systems and the exchange of good practices in integrating CSR principles in education at all levels.

The following operations are eligible:

• seminars, training sessions, conferences and round tables, including related dissemination through publications and the Internet;
• preparatory research seeking to identify and benchmark experience and good practices;
• preparatory research seeking to identify issues in the field of content, application, monitoring and verification of CSR practices and instruments;
• support for training for social auditors.

To be eligible, projects:

• must have a transnational dimension, i.e. either being led by a European or international organisation or involve active partners in several different EU Member States;
• cannot relate directly to the core commercial activity of any partners which would be active on the commercial market.

Priority will be given to the following projects:

• projects aiming to promote convergence and transparency of CSR practices and tools;
• projects involving several stakeholders and fostering a dialogue between enterprises, trade unions, civil society organisations and other stakeholders;
• projects based on the development and/or negotiation of instruments between or with the social partners;
• projects building on existing EU legislation, including the "EU Charter of fundamental rights" and internationally agreed instruments such as the OECD Guidelines for multinational enterprises, the Council of Europe Social Charter, ILO core labour standards and the International Bill of Human Rights;
• projects with a sustainable multiplier effect;
• projects with an innovative dimension.

Award criteria:

• the extent to which the operation meets the objectives and priorities of the budget heading
• the extent to which the operation has a genuine transnational dimension
• the quality of partnerships, i.e. the degree of involvement and commitment at the application stage of the social partners/stakeholders in the operation
• the added value and innovativeness of the operation
• the lasting impact and/or multiplier effect of the operation4
• the cost-effectiveness of the operation
• the arrangements to publicise the operation and dissemination methods envisaged
• the overall quality, clarity and completeness of the proposal and budget explanation